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SECESSION 



E S I S T E D • 



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PHILADELPHIA: 

KING & BAIRB, No. 607 SANSOM STREET, 
18 6 1. 



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SECESSION RESISTED. 



Secession has been made the subject of discussion 
between persons residing in opposite parts of the 
country, as presenting a question of right or wrong. 
Among; those who are desirous of maintaining unim- 
paired the public good, there is believed to be no 
doubt of its being the parent of mischief, and the 
companion of treason. They on the other hand who 
attempt to justify or excuse it are principally engaged 
in open rebellion. It is scarcely probable that further 
argument would produce a change of sentiment where 
from such causes it is entertained on the one side or 
the other, and we dwell for a moment only on the 
abstract question. A difference so serious, now fixed 
with seeming firmness in practical hostility, is con- 
nected with a broader conflict of construction, which 
in mere theory has done no great harm. The advo- 
cates of secession say that the Constitution was 
formed by States, to which they impute a sovereign 
capacity ; and that the government of which it is the 
supreme law, is not a government of the people. 
Unless they can establish these doctrines, they have 
little ground for claiming a right to secede, and they 



4 SECESSION KESISTED. 

are not understood to uphold the one except in con- 
nection ^vith the other. This pretended right is 
asserted for one or more States, separately or collected. 
It is necessary for them to prove that they came in 
in that supposed sovereign capacity, for which there 
is no warrent in the Constitution even by the use of 
the terms, in order that they may exercise in depar- 
ture, the same power that brought them together. 
The necessity of such proof is either expressly 
admitted, or it forms so universally a part of the 
Southern creed that it is vital to their cause. In 
opposition to this doctrine we have first the very 
words of the Constitution " We the people." Next, 
the object of the convention, which was to remedy 
the evils of Confederation, now revived in the move- 
ment of secession. Thirdly, the clear interpretation 
of learned jurists who died long before the present 
controversy began. Nothing can be regarded as 
settled, if this point be still open. The engagement, 
too, at the beginning was express, that the Union 
should be perpetual. It might well be insisted on 
that in the absence of any such stipulation, this would 
have been the necessary result from the nature of 
things. An agreement to the contrary, or one pro- 
viding for separation, would be required for the 
opposite effect. 

Although it would be difficult to find in all history 
a government so stable in principles, and so united in 
purposes as ours, yet precedent is not wanting in a 



SECESSIO:^ EESISTED. 5 

less closely cemented junction of Commonwealths. 
Our recent historians have made us familiar with the 
heart of Europe of a former day, and particularly 
with the eventful career of the Netherlands. Pres- 
cott, in his Philip II., says that the people of Brabant, 
the province of which the then great city of the 
European world, Antwerp, was the thriving capital, 
were so jealous of their liberties that in the oath of 
allegiance to their sovereign on his accession, it was 
provided that this allegiance might be lawfully with- 
held whenever he ceased to respect their privileges. 
(I Vol. 371.) Express provision, sound authority, 
and the actual absence of reserved right according to 
historic precedent, all concur in favor of perpetuity 
for the Union, and against the worse than absurd 
doctrine of voluntary departure from it. 

Much that has been thus presented, will be found 
in the valuable publications lately given to the cause 
of the Union. Our remarks have been made as pre- 
liminary to certain views beyond the mere fact of 
secession, and broadly opened by that ill-fated mea- 
sure. However plain the principle which denies all 
excuse to what has been done, the mere departure of 
the States from allegiance, probably never would 
have been opposed by force of arms. No such object 
is embraced in the present controversy fierce as it 
undoubtedly is, and long continued as it threatens to 
be. War was reluctantly embraced by the govern- 
ment, only as one branch of an alternative, that pre- 



6 SECESSION RESISTED. 

sented dislionor and loss of life and property by 
ferocious plunder on the one hand — and resistance 
and armed defence on the other. The last branch of 
the alternative is embraced, and it explains the whole 
theory of the cause and contest in which we are 
engaged. War is undoubtedly carried on. The 
general government is engaged in it — actively, at 
great expense of treasure and life. The part which 
it is performing is greatly misunderstood. It is 
grossly misrepresented by the enemy, and miscon- 
ceived by strangers. This war is met we trust man- 
fully, for the purposes of defence and resistance. 
Hostilities were, after much preparation and without 
formal announcement, not only opened by the other 
side, but opened v/ith outrage and wrong. They 
have been carried on without regard to the rules and 
practices of civilized nations, and with plunder, fraud, 
and cruel wanton and unnecessary murder. They 
began at Fort Sumter without provocation or notice, 
and they have carried out their preconcerted designs 
without remorse This was the beginning of flagrant 
war. As early as October, Genl. Scott appealed to 
the then President to strengthen the garrison. The 
newly appointed Secretary of War, who succeeded in 
that place the well remembered Floyd, in his official 
letter of February 18th, 1861, which has been only 
the other day, made public in consequence of a call 
from the House of Representatives, uses this expres- 
sion — " Had the early admonitions which reached 



SECESSION RESISTED. 7 

here in regard to the designs of lawless men upon 
the forts of Charleston harbor, been acted on by 
sending forward adequate reinforcements before the 
revolution began, the disastrous political complica- 
tions that ensued, might not have occurred." When 
the annual message was sent to Congress, and Floyd 
was the Secretary of War, (December 3d, I860,) 
Mr. Buchanan in blind infatuation or under trea- 
sonable influence, while asserting the right of pro- 
perty in the Federal government, and while the 
thunder of the rebel cannon had been thundering for 
many weeks in Charleston, declares, " It is not 
believed that any attempt will be made to expel the 
United States from this property by force." Where 
were his ears'? Mr. Holt soon afterwards in his 
letter of 18th February, refers to these excesses as 
treacheries and ruthless spoliations. " The forts of 
the United States" he adds, " have been captured and 
garrisoned, and hostile flags unfurled upon their 
ramparts. Its arsenals have been seized, and the 
vast amount of public arms they contained appro- 
priated to the use of the captors ; while more than 
half a million of dollars found in the mint of New 
Orleans has been unscrupulously applied to replenish 
the coffers of Louisiana." Washington had not been 
actually assailed, but it was threatened and endan- 
gered, and this was the immediate inducement for 
the letter of Secretary Holt, of 18th February. He 
concludes this letter by a reference to the deep dis- 



8 SECESSION EESISTED. 

honor which would have been suffered " had the 
capital, like the forts and arsenals of the South fallen 
into the hands of the revolutionists, who have found 
this great government weak, only because in the 
exhaustless beneficence of its spirit it has refused to 
strike even in its own defence, lest it should wound 
the aggressor." 

In that defence, it has been compelled, at length, 
to strike; and we devoutly trust that it will not 
again refuse, until the aggressor is made sensible of 
his wrongs and seeks to do all he can in the way of 
reparation, by restoring his ill-gotten gains and re- 
fraining from farther atrocities. The North aroused 
at last to action is found with one voice and arm in 
the work of just defence. Even the frigid message 
of Mr. Buchanan reaches almost to such a possibility. 
After expressing in the words just quoted his dis- 
belief that any attempt will be made to expel the 
United States from property by force, he adds, " but 
if in this I should prove to be mistaken, the officer 
in command of the forts has received orders to act 
strictly on the defensive." Fatal did the mistake 
prove, and ill-timed the reluctant orders. 

As the course of treason has developed itself, and 
the fury of rebellion has been stimulated by success- 
ful encroachments, the same rule of defence has been 
the guide. The North acting upon this principle will 
strive to maintain the supremacy of the Constitution 
against the attacks of its enemies. Resistance of the 



SECESSION RESISTED. f 

assaults of treason and defence of property and life 
and national honor, against plunder and murderous 
assailants — are the purposes and the practices of the 
war on the part of the United States. Their proceed- 
ings are purely of a defensive character. It was 
thought by some that the first message of the present 
President was perhaps over pacific. It was admitted 
by all to be quite sufficiently kind in its tone. That 
of the 5th of Jane was believed to have assumed the 
armor and attitude of war. If so, it was not a 
moment too soon. Yet even there he proclaims that 
the duty of employing the war power was forced 
upon him in defence of the government. This ac- 
cording to his inauguration oath was to " preserve, 
protect and defend the" Union." Such has been the 
true sentiment aud the general tendency of the 
North from the beginning of these troubles. It has 
been felt by the people everywhere. Resolutions 
adopted almost unanimously by both Houses of Con- 
gress express with emphasis the same thing. They 
declare that " The war which has been forced upon 
us is not waged for the purpose of overthrowing or 
interfering with the rights of established institution 
of the Southern States, but to defend and maintain 
the supremacy of the Constitution and to preserve 
the Union." 

Notwithstanding such authentic declarations from 
successive executives, and a specially called Legisla- 
ture acting almost exclusively for general political 



10 SECESSION RESISTED. 

purposes, the reverse is insisted on with pertinacity 
by those who act and speak with partial judgments, 
and without a local right to decide. It is alleged in 
southern speeches in Congress and out of it, that the 
war is pressed on " to the consummation of the sub- 
jugation of the Southern States." This war is pro- 
nounced a war of subjugation, in other words, that 
it is intended to coerce or conquer. There is no 
ground for these charges. They are denied. The 
imputed intention or desire is disclaimed, and it is 
disproved by every fact. All defensive war requires 
occasional local attacks, and if well conceived and 
executed, the bolder they are, the better. They are 
made only in anticipation of necessary defence, 
against assaults of a declared and watchful enemy. 
They are made sometimes it must be acknowledged 
too hastily for safety, and as recent events have 
shown with a rashness inconsistent with wisdom. 
But in them there is no mark of coercion or intended 
conquest, they are prompted by motives quite the 
reverse. It is not even contemplated to convince 
misguided men of their error and infatuation, in 
their attempt to secede. This has indeed been more 
than carried into execution, and if you please so to 
regard it into accomplishment. It is a war of defence 
only. Secession of itself is not to be prevented. Its 
further encroachments and continued wrongs are to 
be resisted, and it is hoped that they will be with 
success. 



SECESSION EESISTED. H 

Let the enemy test this question of defence or sub- 
jugation. He can soon see whether we desire to 
subjugate him, or only to sustain ourselves. Let him 
cease his aggressions on property not belonging to 
him. Let him abandon the places he has ruthlessly 
seized. Let him if he can, restore the millions plun- 
dered. Let him give up his countless spoils. Let 
him place every thing as far as he can, in the condi- 
tion in which it was early in the Autumn ; and for 
what he is now unable to restore, let him srive 
pledges of future, though tardy retribution. These 
matters are not pretended to have formed a part of 
any of his plans. The embassy of Commissioners 
from South Carolina for adjustment, has been re- 
ferred to with complaints that they were not re- 
ceived ! After the principals were engaged in 
taking all they could by force or fraud, commis- 
sioners had nothing to ask but tame acquiescence in 
wrong. Well might they be content to depart in 
peace, laden with spoils and presuming upon spirit- 
less submission. The mitred General or helmeted 
Bishop with his Spartan name, wishes to repose 
"under his own vine and his own fig tree." He 
remembers to forget, that both the vine and the fig 
tree were purchased, together with the ground they 
stand on, and paid for by the United States. His 
military conscience may keep watch in rebel content- 
ment, but his religious conscience will be troubled 
with uneasy dreams. The course he has taken is 



12 SECESSION RESISTED. 

everywhere condemned. Even his neighbor bishop, 
of Georgia, while invoking a blessing in favor of the 
confederate government, seems to nttcr reproof, when 
he declares in a sermon at the departure of the 
Pulaski Guards for Virginia, that priests of the 
sanctuary are not permitted to put on the arms of 
the warrior. 

This war of aggression on one side and defence on 
the other, has no greater variety in its origin and 
character North and South, than in the manner in 
which it is respectively carried on in the same oppo- 
site quarters. Speech " bewrayeth" both the temper 
and the breeding. The language used in the South 
is unbecoming, whether adopted by leaders or follow- 
ers, whether in proclamations or newspaper publica- 
tions. The correspondent of the London Times, in 
passing from that region towards the other, could 
not fail to be impressed with this as well as other 
peculiarities. In a letter dated at Cairo, Illinois, 
June — , he inserts two specimens of editorial seces- 
sionism, one on General Prentiss, whom Mr. Russell 
describes as a fine-looking gentleman, with a clear 
liquid blue eye, very agreeable manner, and marked 
with good taste. It is here inserted in a note at foot, 
as I am unwilling to give it a place in my text. 



* 



* " There is a man now vegetating at Cairo, by name Prentiss, who 
is in command of the forces at that point. His qualifications for the 
command of such a squad of villians and cutthroats are : — he is a 
miserable hound, a dirty dog, a sociable fellow, a treacherous villain, a 
notorious thief, a lying blackguard, has served his regular five years in 



SECESSION RESISTED. 13 

The other " editorial" purports to describe a Hunga- 
rian body of volunteers, who, Mr. Russell says, were 
" a fine soldierly-looking set of men." Tliis also is 
given in a note at foot.* It is sufficiently clear that 
the Times, correspondent was forcibly struck with the 
difference in every thing that partook of civilization, 
between the part of the country through which he 
had just journeyed in a state of aggressive rebellion, 
and that which was preparing for needful defence. 
Speech, we have ventured to intimate, is often an 
, index to temper and conduct. A cause of hostile 
action will be found, as nearly as may be, in photo- 
graph resemblance to the language quoted literally 

the penitentiary, and keeps his hide continually full of Cincinnati 
whisky, which he buys by the barrel to save money. In him are em- 
bodied all the leprous rascalities, and in this living sore the gallows 
has been cheated of its own. This Prentiss wants our scalp. We 
have no objection to his having it if he can get it; and we will propose 
a plan by which he may become possessed of that valuable article. It 
is this:— Let him select 150 of his best fighting men, or 250 of the 
lager beer Dutchmen, and we will select 100 ; then let both parties 
meet at a given point, where there will be no interruption of the scalp- 
ing business, and then the longest pole will knock the 'pe.simmon.' 
If he does not accept this proposal he is a coward. We think the 
above proposition fair and equal." 

" When the bow-legged, wooden-shoed, sourkrout stinking, 

bologna-sausage-eating, hen-roost, robbing Dutch sons of from 

Cairo had accomplished the brilliant feat of taking down the Secession 
flag on the river bank, they were pointed to another flag of the same 
sort, which was flying gloriously and defiantly about two squares 
distant (and which their guns did not cover,) and defied, yea, double 
big, black dog dared (as we used to say at school,) to take that flag 
down. The cowardly pups, the sheep-dogs, the sneaking skunks dare 
not do so, because those twelve pieces of artillery were not bearing 
upon it. And these are the people who are sent by Lincoln to ' crush 
eut' the South !" 



14 SECESSION RESISTED. 

from the rebel paper. Modern warfare among civil- 
ized nations is not a system of cunning and cowardly 
approaches to unarmed and defenceless men, quietly 
occupied, with a view to mere brutal murder and 
revenge. Let the world judge of the sense of honor 
and propriety of those who can propose, execute, or 
approve, such savage and barbarous conduct as is dis- 
closed and boasted of in the following article. 

"The Death of Major Rawlings. — The Peters- 
burg ' Express'' says : — We have heard from a source 
entitled to the fullest confidence, that one of the most 
daring feats of the age was consummated near New- 
port News, on Friday last, by Confederate soldiers. 
Ever since the killing of the much-lamented Lieuten- 
ant-Colonel Charles Dreux, four of his men have 
resolved to avenge his taking off. With this view, 
they obtained permission to leave their camp, and 
providing themselves with several days' rations, pro- 
ceeded stealthily through the forests until almost 
within sight of the camp at Newport News. 

" They laid in ambush for five days awaiting an 
opportunity to avenge the death of their Colonel, but 
none presented until Friday last. On that day they 
espied a party of seven Yankees, three of whom were 
evidently officers, engaged, at a small stream, mea- 
suring with lines, and seemingly preparing for the 
erection of a bridge. They were all unarmed, and 
the Louisianians resolved that the prey they had so 



SECESSION" EESISTED. 15 

long and perseveringly sought should not escape 
them. Knowing that the report of their guns would 
alarm the camp not far distant, they speedily deter- 
mined to rely solely upon the use of their bayonets, 
and crawling upon their hands and knees to within a 
convenient distance, they suddenly sprang forward, 
each man selecting his victim. 

" Two officers were killed, but one of them, a 
Major, not dying at the first thrust, was struck over 
the head with the butt of a musket until life was ex- 
tinct. The other five men were secured, one of them 
severely wounded, and carried into camp at York 
town. The wounded man proved to be a Captain, 
and when our informant left Yorktown, it was 
thought that he would certainly die, having received 
a severe bayonet stab in his breast, and other cuts 
in diff'erent portions of his body." 

Of a piece with this base transaction is an event 
more recently recited. A small party of residents of 
the North consisting of three or four men and one 
female, known only to be quiet strangers, and subject 
to no other charge, wished to proceed towards their 
home. The men were stripped naked, and inhumanly 
beaten and lacerated. The woman was stripped to her 
waist, and forced to undergo a like bloody castigation. 
A war thus carried on, well becomes a power that 
can resort to the expediency of offering a reward of 
$20 or $25 a head for prisoners, whether men, 



Xj5 secession eesisted. 

women or cliildren, taken, dead or alive. This is 
stated in substance in the British House of Com- 
mons on the 15th of July. These various proceed- 
ings are all more or less disgraceful to civilization. 
If war is an honorable and manly system, resorted to 
only in extreme cases, such as it has been described 
long ago by Cicero ; and military virtue as that great 
orator says, excels all others, how shamefully is it per- 
verted by acts which are made a subject of boast. 
Unarmed men are secretly crept on and bayoneted 
and knocked on the head " with the butt of a musket," 
and it is a proud exploit. 

Such results are scarcely to be wondered at, when 
the manner in which the ranks are filled is under- 
stood. Impressment was once a heartless practice in 
a great foreign naval service. Here troops of what- 
ever allegiance are forced into the army by illegal 
and cruel means. It is well known that in New Or- 
leans numbers of British subjects have been rescued 
from their tyrannous treatment by the interposition 
of their consul. No matter what the inclination of the 
individual may be, he is forced if possible into the ser- 
vice which he often abhors, and from which he deserts 
when he is able. A proud difference in this last 
fact is found between the different forces. The mes- 
sage of the President, in high official responsibility, 
asserts that " While in this the Government's hour of 
trial, large numbers of those in the army and navy 
who have been favored with the offices, have resigned 



SECESSION EESISTED. 17 

and proved false to the hand which pampered them, 
not one common soldier or sailor is known to have 
deserted his flag. 

While some of the proceedings of the present ad- 
ministration have been severely censured in certain 
quarters, and a liberal construction is perhaps re- 
quired in a position of great delicacy and almost 
entire novelty, a suggestion was made not long 
since by a few gentlemen of Philadelphia, of the ex- 
pediency of an unofficial advisory council. This it 
was thought might properly be found among the 
persons who occupy in retirement relief from employ- 
ment as past Presidents of the United States. A 
meeting was accordingly proposed to take place in 
the Hall of Independence, with the approval of the 
Government, from which it was thought that good 
might result. From whom could the country hope 
for better advice than from some of those who had 
been selected by their fellow-citizens for the higher 
stations, and now enjoyed the advantage of long ex- 
perience in dignified repose"? Some of these gentle- 
men were addressed on the occasion, and it was 
believed that the arrangement would be carried into 
effect. More than one of the public papers, not ex- 
actly understanding the object, expressed strong opposi- 
tion, and for some insufficient reason the project failed. 
It may still be thought that good would have come 
from such a measure. Seneca advises to consult a 
friend on all things, and he considers that grief, as 



18 SECESSION EESISTED. 

light which can take counseh A wiser tliaii Seneca 
goes still farther. We are taught by Solomon, that 
"he that hearkeneth unto counsel is wise," (12 : 15,) 
And "with the well advised is wisdom." (3: 10.) And 
" in multitude of counsellors there is safety." (24 : 6.) 
With or without external advice, we are bound to 
treat the constitutional head of the Government with 
deference, and as a general rule, to conform to his 
official measures. The result of the last election was 
an almost immediate rebellion. The candidates of 
the Republican party were chosen by Northern votes. 
It is remarkable that the whole South where the bit- 
terest hostility exists, and the present chief magis- 
trate is repudiated, like its debts, must be looked upon 
as responsible for the fate of the political controversy. 
In an ill-judging confidence of success the party which 
has been generally successful divided its strength, 
and according to a well-known maxim it was con- 
quered. One of the separated candidates misjudged 
his position which as a candidate for the highest 
elective office, was one of dignity, and compromised 
himself and his position by stumping for a vote. It 
is to be hoped that the bad example may never be 
followed. Perhaps the exertions of mind and body 
made by him contributed to his death. The other 
Democratic candidate has lived, it may be believed, in 
disappointment, for his career as a senator and a citi- 
zen has been a continued effort to thwart legislative 
proceedings, without a hope of success, and to disturb 



SECESSION EESISTED. 19 

public tranqiiillity by appeals to irregular passions in 
the people. Cardinal AVolsey would have told him 
to " fling away ambition," by which sin the angels 
fell. A third candidate has been no less unhappy- 
He was sustained in the name of the Union, the Con- 
stitution, and the laws; and now, all of these sacred 
emblems are said to be worse than forfeited by him, 
for they are bartered for anarchy under a secession 
flag. His townsman Judge Catron has been driven 
from Nashville for his loyalty and honor. The fourth 
among the candidates of November remains untar- 
nished in honor and untouched in power. Whatever 
may be his alleged mental proportion below the 
standard of individaal greatness, his election was con- 
stitutional though sectional, legal and fair though 
partizan, like many that have gone before it, and it 
should be constitutionally respected and observed. 

Our task would be imperfectly performed if late 
executive measures, which have been the subject of 
complaint, not always the consequence of their being 
well understood, were not carefully looked to and a 
candid explanation of them made. What are these 
measures '? or, in the first place, who are they from 
whom the objections to them principally come ^ 
These complainants are for the most part persons 
who having violated the laws and trampled on the 
constitution, and especially those laws to which they 
are held amenable, are, it might be supposed, not 
entitled to be heard before the tribunal of public 



20 SECESSION EESISTED. 

opinion. Having relinquished the privileges and 
protection of the constitution, they are self-outlawed, 
and cannot claim assistance or relief from a source of 
authority which they have in utter defiance denied. 
In abandoning their duty and obedience as citizens 
they forfeit the correlative of protecting justice, 
which is lost by such misconduct, as under common 
circumstances would expose them to punishment if 
found guilty by due course of law. They remove 
themselves from arraignment and trial by misconduct. 
The law cannot hurt them, for they have chosen to 
go beyond its reach. How can it help them, when 
they have prevented, by their own act, its exercise 1 
If they say it is a dead letter to them for evil, it is 
equally so for good. They stand worse than mute 
according to the old law, and must not expect judg- 
ment to be interposed in their behalf, while they 
withhold all submission to authority. 

The measure first objected to is, that on the 15th 
of April, the President by proclamation called for 
seventy-five thousand men. The objection rests on 
technical grounds. It is alleged that the steps to be 
opposed by this armed force arise from States in 
their sovereign capacity, and that no power exists 
to coerce a State into obedience to the Federal 
government. 

We deny, as has been already said, both the desire 
to coerce and the sovereignty of the States. The 
force called for was wanted to defend the general 



SECESSION RESISTED. 21 

government and the body of the people, from unlaw- 
ful assaults and other misdeeds of armed rebels. 
These armed rebels claim to represent States, while 
neither such States nor the individuals who combine 
to represent them are sustained by any authority 
known to the constitution or laws. The militia 
may be called for when occasion requires, to suppress 
such combinations of individuals to prevent the 
execution of the laws of the United States. But 
even that is not the exact or mere cause of the call, 
or the sole object of the force required. Combina- 
tions of individuals have prevented the execution of 
the laws, and are proceeding onward in the attempt. 
The object is to resist aggression of a positive, active 
and destructive kind. As long as constructive or 
actual rebellion confines itself to arrogance of preten- 
sion, as an independent power, and claims possession 
of only what by strained construction it could regard 
as its own, there is no great danger of force to sup- 
press it. It is to resist continued and further 
encroachment upon what is ours — our [property, per- 
sons, lands, money, goods, and lives. By ours, we 
mean of course the United States, as we stood before 
the outbreak of secession, with property and privi- 
leges of every kind all over the country. South as 
well as North. Let these alone and your declara- 
tions of secession and even establishments of con- 
federated governments restricted to their own innate 
powers and fancied prerogatives, will perhaps not 



22 SECESSION EESISTED. 

be suppressed or otherwise interfered with. That 
which is called suppression is nothing but defence. 
If the individuals who claim unbounded indulgence 
of will and power abroad and at home, over others 
as well as themselves, and then hope to find protec- 
tion under the fallacy of State sovereignty, Avill 
restore what they have taken, withdraw their per- 
nicious movements, and abandon all further evil 
designs, they will suffer nothing from seventy-five 
thousand, or seventy-five hundred thousand loyal 
men. They now set at nought and obstruct the 
laws they have sworn to support in the person of 
every officer, and they wantonly obstruct the exer- 
cise of them with fire and sword. If, indeed, this 
call for armed men be without sufficient warrant in 
the constitution or the lav/, the objection would 
better come from those, who in that case are irregu- 
larly invited to resist traitors, than from the traitors 
who are to be resisted. They who alone would have 
a right to object, obey the summons with alacrity 
and 7eal. Let the President's legal call be termed 
an invitation, offered and accepted with mutual 
kindness and good will, and the objection as it is 
presented, vanishes. Every man may shoulder his 
musket if he likes and may use it in the necessary 
defence of all that is dear to him and his immediate 
family alone, or to millions of fellow citizens in com- 
mon with them. 

Might not a body of volunteers on an emergency 



SECESSION EESISTED. 23 

rise up to defend their firesides without any call 
from the President '? He may be too distant from 
the assault for appeal, and countless losses might be 
sustained by the delay. A gallant defence is not the 
worse for having authority combined Avith personal 
resolution. An immediate necessity may often arise 
to resist murderous invasion, or savage encroachment, 
or traitorous assault. Families and neijjhborhoods 
must defend themselves on the sudden from such 
assaults. Who can condemn them] Whether 
troops thus engaged in honorable and voluntary ser- 
vice shall afterwards be paid, may depend upon the 
justice of the government. Their actions with or 
without looking for compensation are surely lawful. 
Different branches of the government have means 
of assistance without limit. A court of justice may 
call out the whole body of the county (the posse 
comitatus) if occasion requires. Congress may take 
steps to invoke every body in case of need. Is the 
Executive to be left at all times without power to 
" preserve, protect and defend the constitution," ac- 
cording to his inauguration oath? 

Next, the constitution is said to be violated by 
the proclamations of April, which declare a blockade 
of the Southern ports. Here too the objection comes 
with a bad grace from the wrong-doers. The old 
term blockade may be somewhat difficult of applica- 
tion, in their eyes, to the new state of things, which 
they have engendered. In this respect it can only 



24 SECESSION RESISTED. 

be said to resemble a constant practice of language 
which adapts itself of necessity to the progress of 
civilization, and uses familiar words even when things 
have somewhat changed. The term is not to be 
construed by what things were, but by what they 
are, not to be applied to former and past relations, 
but to those which are present. The South places 
itself within and without in a hostile condition. It 
carries on war fiercely in every possible way. It 
began in the seaport of Charleston, and sends out 
from any port it can, its cruizers. While the govern- 
ment denies that the war is a lawful one, and treats 
the parties as guilty of treason, it employs force with- 
out or within against them, and regards their ports 
exactly as their own choice requires. If they were 
a foreign people, as they claim to be, it would be a 
blockade according to the familiar use of the word. 
In their state of alienation to most purposes, but 
not admitted to have reached it lawfully, the treat- 
ment of them by a blockade is merely adopting the 
thing and the expression, in the way that they have 
made necessary. The President is authorized to sup- 
press insurrections. His power to do so is specially 
enlarged by authority to call out the militia. Other 
parts of the armed force of the country, military and 
maritime, were already at his disposal for certain 
purposes. Both or either may be directed against 
insurrectionists by land and by water. A blockade 
is used for the purpose of shutting up ports by armed 



SECESSIOISr RESISTED. 25 

vessels. Whatever other efforts may be resorted to 
within the State which is in a course of insurrection, 
this is the true mode of acting from without. Other 
nations have adopted and enforced the right to block- 
ade their own ports to suppress insurrection, and 
courts of justice have in more instances than one 
recognised the act. Foreign nations cannot complain 
that there are peculiarities in the blockade as to our- 
selves. It is a war measure as to them at the best, 
although only exercised as a government power 
against rebellious citizens. "Whether Congress has 
declared war or not, war exists, and that is enough 
for the world at large. All that we are bound to do 
is to take care that adequate force is applied, and 
that we are not indulging in a mere proclamation or 
paper blockade, such as set the nations of Europe 
once into mutual remonstrance and controversy. If 
it be not actual and capable of defeating all attempts 
to break it, foreign nations have a right to complain. 
Eebels have nothing to do with that, and they will 
naturally strive to evade or defeat it by stratagem 
or force if they can. Blockade is one of the many 
measures resorted to for the purpose of resisting re- 
bellion. Defence is taken in the shape of action, as 
well as passive and quiet endurance and mere pro- 
tection of home, and it ventures of necessity abroad 
without abandoning its nature or its name. Should 
we draw in our head and limbs like the land tortoise, 
and cover ourselves with a shell, in helpless imbecility? 



26 SECESSION EESISTED. 

The writ of habeas corpus, it is said, has been 
suspended under the sanction or authority of the 
President. The Constitution says Httle on the sub- 
ject of this important writ. It simply declares that 
" the writ of liaheas corpus shall not be suspended 
unless when in cases of rebellion or invasion the pub- 
lic safety may require it." It is not declared in terms 
that this power of suspension is vested in Congress. 
It is fair to acknowledge that the phrase just quoted 
is found in that part of the Constitution which treats 
especially of the powers of Congress and denials of 
power to that body. It has been repeatedly alleged, 
by the best constitutional writers, that Congress has 
this power, and, so far as that may have a bearing 
upon the questioned power in the President, it must 
be regarded as settled. But it is stated at the same 
time, that " no suspension of the writ has ever been 
authorized by Congress since the establishment of the 
Constitution." (3 Story's Commentaries, 209.) It 
is yet a new thing. Mr. Jefferson expressed a de- 
cided objection against the power to suspend in any 
case whatever. He sent a message to Congress on 
the occasion of the supposed treasonable conspiracy 
of Aaron Burr. A motion was made in the Senate 
for a committee to consider the expediency of suspend- 
ing the writ. A bill was reported for the purpose, 
which passed the Senate. It was rejected in the 
House of Representatives by 113 to 19 votes. 
"Whether the President possesses this power may be 



X 



SECESSION RESISTED. 27 

considered an open question. The occasion for sus- 
pending the writ is declared by the Constitution to 
be " when in cases of rebellion or invasion the public 
safety may require it." Light may be derived from 
certain provisions in the Act of Congress of February 
28, 1795. The President is authorized to call forth 
the mihtia " when the United States shall be invaded 
or be in imminent danger of invasion," &c. A like 
authority is given to him " whenever the laws of the 
United States shall be opposed or the execution 
thereof obstructed in any State by combinations too 
powerful to be suppressed by the ordinary course of 
judicial proceedings," Szc. Under this law, it has 
been decided by the Supreme Court, that the author- 
ity to decide whether the exigency has arisen belongs 
exclusively to the President. The exigency provided 
for is about as great in the one case as the other ; 
and no greater stretch of authority would be exer- 
cised in suspending the writ of habeas corpus than in 
calling out the militia. The question still recurs, 
does the authority to suspend the writ, which is 
inferred to exist in Congress, vest that authority in 
Congress alone ^ There does not appear to be any 
good reason why such should be the case. There are 
long intervals between sessions of Congress. These 
are likely to be much prolonged by the late substitu- 
tion of annual for daily pay. Constant emergencies 
may arise during such intervals when suspension 
should take place. Rebellion may be fierce, invasion 



28 SECESSION EESISTED. 

may bo overwhelming, the ]oublic safety may be in 
imminent and immediate danger. The necessity for 
a remedy of this precise character may not brook 
dehiy. The President, as commander-in-chief, has 
the best opportunities, as well to judge of tlie emer- 
gency, as to apply on the instant the remedy. Each 
of the two branches of the government may possess 
the power of suspension without interference with 
the other. In the case of Aaron Burr we have seen 
that the popular branch of the legislature may have 
omitted to do its duty. 

The Constitution does not deny the power to the 
President. It confers it on Congress only by impli- 
cation. The power to suspend is distinctly recog- 
nized : and it is not in terms restricted to Congress. 
In the wide range of executive power comprising that 
of seeing " that the laws be faithfully executed," this 
might well be embraced. It is a limited power. The 
privilege of the writ cannot be abrogated. It can 
only be suspended. Treason may have lurked in 
secret until it formed large and dangerous combina- 
tions, which, upon being detected, must be instantly 
checked. A bold traitor, after arrest, may recur to 
magistrate after magistrate clothed with judicial func- 
tions, and after different refusals to interfere in his 
behalf, may iind at length a willing confederate even 
on the seat of justice. All of these alleged assump- 
tions of authority and prerogative, and others of less 
magnitude, but depending upon similar principles. 



SECESSION RESISTED. 29 

present in greater or less degree new questions, which 
are discussed with agitated feelings through the 
country, and opposite ultimate opinions. The respon- 
sible legal officer of the government gave his official 
opinion, on this point last mentioned, decidedly in 
favor of the executive power, and this must be con- 
sidered as conclusive upon him. The Chief Justice 
is said to have expressed himself otherwise. Neither 
can be said to form a precedent or authority for all 
cases, while both are entitled to respect. 

There is one view, in place here, which ought not 
to be overlooked. The late Chief Justice Tilghman 
said, that points sometimes presented themselves to a 
court of justice, which, finding no precedent in the 
books, and yielding strong arguments on both sides, 
must still be decided. The decision either way would 
form a rule for the future. Justice would be done in 
any event. Yet one party would lose and the other 
would gain. The public good on the one side, or a 
possibility of evil on the other, may lead the way ; 
and the Court, acting honestly, decides for the best, 
giving its reasons that might have occasioned the 
preponderance. Now, in the great questions before 
the nation, if logic and argument are unable to con- 
trol, and precedent and authority are wanting, the 
beam of the scales of justice may be influenced by 
obvious duty to the general weal, involving, perhaps, 
the very existence of the republic. No right is inter- 
fered with, and no wrong is promoted. The Execu- 



30 SECESSION RESISTED. 

tive acts referred to have stayed the progress of 
treason. They are plainly the result of honest 
patriotism, and they will, notwithstanding the cavils 
of casuistry and the meanings of rebellion, be sus- 
tained, supported and approved by all who, unpreju- 
diced by interest or morbid sensibility, and unaffected 
by local attachments, desire the safety and happiness 
of the people. 

While the course of treason has become only too 
palpable, and its want of all pretext not less obvious, 
explanations have been attempted at different times 
quite foreign from the truth. Even the stale com- 
plaint of supposed interference with slavery has con- 
tinued to linger in suggestion, and has not been 
without acknowledgment in high quarters. Mr. 
Buchanan, in his last annual message, overlooking 
the threatening issues and even the fearful facts of 
the moment, strangely imputes the prevailing discon- 
tent, as he calls it, to " the long continued and 
intemperate interference of the northern people with 
the question of slavery in the Southern States." At 
that moment — for the message bears date December 
3d, 1860 — the flagrant war on one side had been 
begun, and its flagrant causes, both remote and 
proximate, were universally understood. Both the 
war, which had been carried on in South Carolina for 
several weeks, and for defence against which he had 
been appealed to by the commanding general in 
October, and its causes, were, to use a common word, 



SECESSION RESISTED. 3t 

utterly ignored by him. As to slavery, while he 
asserts it to be the cause of the prevailing discontent, 
and admits that " the fugitive slave law has been 
carried into execution in every contested case since 
the commencement of the present administration," 
he trusts " that the State Legislatures will repeal 
their unconstitutional and obnoxious enactments." 
And adds : " Unless this shall be done without 
unnecessary delay, it is impossible for any human 
power to save the Union." The real character of 
what he calls discontent, which was actual war, was 
quite forgotten. There had been irritation, indeed, 
on the broad subject of slavery, and sometimes men 
of the best standing from the east were compelled to 
leave the region where it prevailed. But the persons 
who, as abolitionists, proclaimed and practiced oppo- 
sition to it, were comparatively few in number, and 
altogether inefficient in power and position, as to the 
general government. They never were in reality 
countenanced by any branch of that government, and 
were either frowned on or laughed at by the masses, 
at least in the Middle States. This exaggerated view 
of the danger from opposition to slavery w^as like the 
alarm spread in Virginia by the miserable little raid 
of John Brown, which fear or fancy swelled into an 
armed invasion of thousands. Mr. Adams, indeed, 
with his passion for the right of petition, persisted, 
against every mark of disapprobation, in w'hat even 
his age and high standing could not redeem from dis- 



32 SECESSION EESISTED. 

gust, until there was in contemplation a vote of cen- 
sure in the House of Representatives. The same 
experienced statesman presented from his State an 
application for measures for the repeal of that part 
of the Constitution which gives a three-fifths repre- 
sentation on account of slaves. He united with one 
other member, Mr. Giddings, in a minority report in 
favor of the change. It never came before the House 
for a vote. Long since that time, an individual 
Senator has launched forth his anathema against 
slavery. A personal assault, made on him in his seat 
after adjournment, seemed to prove that where offence 
was really given and felt on that subject, it was likely 
to be followed by summary revenge. If there had 
been much serious cause of irritation farther north 
than Washington, the Southern chivalry would have 
followed it into such remoter latitude. It has been 
probably little more than a pretext for deeply seated 
hatred, lying deeply in the bosoms of those who are 
always sufficiently inflamed and ready to be aroused. 
It was from no indisposition to make farther assaults 
that they did not seek the enemy wherever he might 
be found. They could attack Fort Sumter a thousand 
to one. No abolition was there, but it belonged to 
the government, and that was sufficient provocation. 
They were prepared and disposed for war, and they 
knew that the intended victims and future adversa- 
ries had made no adequate preparation for defence. 
Time and opportunity were not to be lost. A Federal 



secessio:n' eesisted. 3S 

fort lost would be a secession gain : and the jEirst step 
was taken in a State, in the only State, where rebel- 
lion was already ripe. 

A few weeks only elapsed after the fall of Fort 
Sumter in honorable defeat and inglorious victory, 
when seven other States made their official demon- 
stration. The steps were altogether aristocratic, and 
the people had then, and have had since, little if any 
thing to do with them. On the 11th of January, 
publication was made in the National Intelligencer 
of the proceedings of a Disunion caucus held in 
Washington, by the Secession Senators from Florida, 
Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, Arkansas, 
and Texas. It was communicated to the editors by a 
distinguished Southern gentleman, an ex-member of 
Congress, who derived his knowledge from undoubted 
sources, and authorized the publishers to state, as 
they did, that he held himself responsible either to 
the public or to the parties implicated, to any one of 
the latter of whom his name might be given, for the 
accuracy of his statements and the justice of his iur 
culpations. The charge is dated January 9th. It 
states the meeting to have been held the preceding 
Saturday night. The publication proceeds thus : " It 
was then and there resolved in effect to assume to 
themselves the political power of the South, and to 
control all political and military o^Dcrations for the 
present. They telegraphed, to complete the plan of 
seizing forts, arsenals, and custom houses, and advised 



34 SECESSION EESISTED. 

the State Conventions now in session, and soon to 
assemble, to pass ordinances for immediate secession ; 
but in order to thwart any operations of the govern- 
ment here, the Conventions of the seceding States 
are to retain their representatives in the Senate and 
the House." These, as Mark Antony says, in relation 
to conspirators of a former day, were "all — all honor- 
able men." They also advised, ordered, or directed, 
the assembling of a Convention of delegates from the 
seceding States at Montgomery, on the 13th of Feb- 
ruary. They resolved to take the most effectual 
means to dragoon the Legislatures of Tennessee, 
Kentucky, Missouri, Arkansas, Texas, and Virginia, 
into following the seceding States. Maryland was 
also to be influenced by appeals to popular passion, 
&c., &c. Well might it be said at the time that 
these startling statements deeply concerned not only 
the welfare but the honor of the Southern people. A 
more high-toned and less popular kind of government 
than was thus shadowed forth never was erected or 
imagined. No ratification by the people was thought 
of Delegates were to be sent to a provisional and a 
permanent government. The proceedings of this 
caucus serve to exhibit an extraordinary combination 
of artifice, presumption, and boldness. That it should 
have met with any success is scarcely less extraordi- 
nary. It seems to have been followed with acquies- 
cence in the South. Such a result is strange any- 
where, but it is passing strange that there should be 



SECESSION RESISTED. 35 

in the Northern cities victims of the delusion, and 
some who are friendly to the usurpation which dis- 
tracts the whole country, and is doing all it can to 
involve it in utter ruin. This may in some degree 
account for the fact that so many at least unfortunate 
or unwise acts of commission and omission have 
marked the course of the government, and those 
whom it has employed. From the wanton destruc- 
tion of national property at Norfolk, through a series 
of exposures to masked batteries and other unper- 
ceived and unsought dangers anywhere and every- 
where, to the fatal and absurd sequence of the Bull 
Run engagement, with futile attempts at blockade, 
and exposure and peril, if not absolute loss, of com- 
merce on every sea, almost every thing has been a 
blunder, which is as bad as a crime. Want of wis- 
dom appears to have been the order of the day. It 
would almost seem as if the gods had maddened to 
destroy. For the mischiefs that are past there is no 
remedy. If a lesson of wisdom has been taught by 
dear bought experience, it will yet require many tri- 
umphs before the calamities that have occurred can 
be sufficiently atoned for. We may rest assured that 
nothing but brilliant and successful exhibitions in the 
field can restore us to the proud condition we held at 
the beginning of the war, or make the way smooth 
for the complete defence which is our end and aim. 
It is a melancholy fact that much has been lost of 
character as well as life, of confidence in the best of 



36 SECESSION RESISTED. 

causes, which has been brought into jeopardy by 
almost fatal mismanagement. 

Notwithstanding this confession, we have yet every 
thing to hope for in the still indignant spirit of the 
people against the outrages which have accompanied 
the course of rebellion, after prompting it to begin. 
There was a want of common honesty in the mere 
secession of those States that were bought by the 
Union with money, and still more obviously in those 
which were redeemed from savage warfare, with the 
blood and treasure of the whole. Million*s were ex- 
pended for purchase, and a hundred millions for de- 
fence and protection. The ill-gotten gains of Texas, 
and Florida, and Louisiana, and the States that have 
been multiplied under their wings, will remain an 
opprobrium to their present and future inhabitants, 
who only in loyalty to the Union could be entitled 
to the privileges of citizenship. The vast expendi- 
tures were a public contribution, but especially for 
the benefit of those by whom they have been repudi- 
ated. On the 21st of May, it was enacted by the 
rebel Congress that all persons in any manner in- 
debted to individuals or corporations in the United 
States (except the border States) were prohibited 
from paying the same to their respective creditors or 
their agents or assigns, during the existing war. 

A word is here due as to the manner in which the 
present administration was formed. The election 
had been of a character both partizan and sectional. 



SECESSION" EESISTED. 87 

This tendency, in the peculiar and critical state of the 
country, should have ceased with the election. In 
times of great trial, against a common enemy, party 
considerations are unbecoming and dangerous, and 
they should be put aside for the single cultivation of 
the public good. The exhibition at Washington on 
the 4th of March was unhappily far otherwise. ISTo- 
thing but party seems to have been consulted in the 
formation of a cabinet. No one had a rii^ht to die- 
tate to the President a choice of his constitutional 
advisers. But it so happened that more than one of 
the places had been filled towards the close of the 
late administration with signal ability and success. 
The brief control of the War Department had gone 
far to rescue the Government from general reproach, 
as it had, by promptness and energy, rescued the Fed- 
eral City from the peril of being captured. Things 
had speedily assumed a becoming shape, and prospects 
of prosperity were smiling. A continuance only 
was wanting in this happy course. Party turned 
aside, and blindly filled the important offices. We 
say nothing at present of the actual incumbent. Let 
his subsequent fortunes be his judges. If in this great 
controversy all is to be lost, and the sun of tbe Repub- 
lic is to be set in mourning clouds, the nation, the 
world, and history will impute the loss of every thing 
dear to man to the pernicious sway of party. 

At least one farther subject for remark remains on 
the side which we have endeavored to explain and 



38 SECESSIOX KESISTED. 

justify. The great rivers that lead towards the Gulf 
of Mexico are the property of the whole country 
alike. They are necessary outlets for the commerce 
of the lakes, and are indispensable to the Northwest 
and West. These rivers have been stolen, like the 
money and other property of the United States, by 
the ruthless hand of Treason. More than half of the 
national territory now lies west of the Mississippi. 
About half a dozen loyal States are washed by its 
waters. It is tributary to the prosperity of Pennsyl- 
vania and Ohio, as well as of those immediately on 
its shores. It belongs to these rather than to such as 
have for a season its possession. If all other causes 
of defence from Southern encroachment and wrong- 
were in an evil hour to be abandoned, this free right 
to the rivers of the West would remain a sacred 
pledge to be observed and vindicated. Mr. Everett's 
historic speech at New York on the Fourth of July 
winds up its comprehensive and conclusive argument 
with all that can be said on this particular subject. 
We leave it there with entire confidence. 

PhUadeJpliia, August 20, 1861. 



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